New Super Mario Bros 2 Review

Thought you had enough New Super Mario Bros, well think again as New Super Mario Bros makes its debut on the 3DS (its fourth different system!). New Super Mario Bros, is the 2006 series that started with the DS, bringing back Mario to his full 2D platforming adventures, rather than his newer open-world 3D adventures. The twist in this new New Super Mario Bros game is the race to collecting 1 MILLION coins. That’s right, you thought you always collected a lot of coins in your Mario endeavors, well it’s time to prove it with this new entry into the series.

Platform: 3DS/ Genre: Platformer

Developer: Nintendo/ Publisher: Nintendo

Following suit of the usual Mario Bros games story, Bowser and his Koopa Kids/The Koopalings kidnap Princess Peach and it’s up to Mario to rescue the Princess. The Koopalings, in fact are, the only minions of Bowser to appear in this game as Kamek and for the first time ever Bowser Jr. do not appear in a New Super Mario Bros game.

If you’ve played any New Super Mario Bros game, or in fact any Super Mario Bros game, you understand how the gameplay for this works. You control Mario or Luigi in a 2D plane and your goal is to reach the end without dying in a certain time limit. Some levels implement different themes, such as rotating platforms or entirely water-based levels. The game features 6 main worlds, with 3 extra worlds, totaling off 80 combined levels, not to mention the DLC available for the game. Each world has two bosses, a Mid-Boss, using the boss from Super Mario World, the triceratops Reznor, and a fight against the Koopalings, who all have their own unique style of fighting. If you want to find the extra worlds, you will have find an alternate exit in a random level that will lead you to a special cannon, akin to the first New Super Mario Bros.

The main thing about New Super Mario Bros 2, to distinct itself from it’s predecessors, is, again, the idea to collect 1-million coins. In NSMB2, coins are scattered everywhere, in fact many bonuses lead to more coins, even extra levels are filled with grabbing as many coins as you can. A new powerup was added to New Super Mario Bros 2, to help you on your quest for 1 million; the Golden Fire Flower. Like a normal Fire Flower, you obtain the ability to shoot 2 Fireballs per screen, but unlike the normal Fire Flower, Mario is transformed entirely to gold and whatever hits your fiery explosion turns into coins! (Yes, the Golden Fire Flower has an explosion, so in turn you hit more).

Like Super Mario 3D Land, old Super Mario Bros homages are scattered throughout this game [mainly from Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros 3], such as the return of the Raccoon Leaf, which in turn means the return of the P-Meter/P-Bar, the fact that only the Koopalings are in the game and the ability to climb gates. For those who have never played Super Mario Bros 3, the Super Leaf/Raccoon Leaf allows Mario or Luigi when running for a certain time to fly, as long as the P-Meter is filled. Although the Tanooki Suit was in Super Mario 3D Land, the ability to fly was not.

New Super Mario Bros 2 also features two other modes: Multiplayer and Coin Rush Mode. Multiplayer mode is similar to that of former New Super Mario Bros games, in which two separate players take control of Mario and Luigi and play through the regular levels of NSMB2. Unfortunately, the multiplayer requires two players to each own their own cartridge of NSMB 2, so there is no connect play. The same problems exist with this multiplayer as they do in New Super Mario Bros Wii, meaning the camera is set a fixed limit, meaning one player cannot go ahead of the other player, which in turn causes many problems for players who aren’t in sync.

Coin Rush Mode is simply playing levels from NSMB 2 and beating them in a lesser time, while collecting coins for your collection. Coin Rush Mode has three levels in which you can choose from and allows you to play as Mario or White/Golden Leaf Mario [the powerup featured in SM3DL for players having difficulties with the game]. The three levels consist of Mushroom Rush, which are Worlds 1, 2, and a Special World, Fire Flower Rush, Worlds 3, 4 and a Special World and Star Rush, Worlds 5, 6, and a Special World. In this mode, there are more coins and enemies available and you get to keep one Golden Fire Flower in your inventory, as you run through three different levels in a shorter time period to help your coin inventory.

The graphics of New Super Mario Bros 2 is great, looking just as clean and crisp as the versions before it. Although the 3D in this game is not very good, being it only blurs the background, the beautiful level designs and bright colors will make you forget about the lack of 3D. Those looking for a bit of a difficulty jump compared to Super Mario 3D Land, may have found it here be it in the regular stories, finding the hidden worlds, or just going for one million coins. In addition, to get all 5-stars in this Mario Bros game is a fun challenge you may want to take on. With all these extra features besides the game, the replay-value of this game is very good. For the Mario fans, looking for some nice music or who already enjoy the New Super Mario Bros soundtrack, then New Super Mario Bros 2 does its job. NSMB 2 has the same classic tunes you’ve known from Mario Bros games or New Super Mario Bros games, which in turn match up well with each level. Although there are not many songs, as some levels have the same theme, the music is something you cannot play without in this Mario Bros game.

Well, to tell you the truth I hated New Super Mario Bros Wii and I have always said this franchise belongs on handhelds, because it feels like it was built for it; and what do you know once I played New Super Mario Bros 2, I forgave Nintendo for the abomination of NSMB Wii. While the magic of New Super Mario DS is not back in this adventure, to play through all 9 worlds, use the Raccoon Leaf again, and get all 5-stars in this game, and build my way up to a million coins (I’m halfway there!) makes you really sit back and enjoy classic 2D platforming Mario again.

Pros:

Raccoon/Super Leaf

Many hidden bonuses

Replay-value

Cons:

3D doesn’t do anything

Coin Rush Mode is boring

Multiplayer should have been one cartridge

Overall: 8.9/10

Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina If you guys got some time subscribe to him at youtube here! Or like hisgaming channel

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